" By Rasool Bux Palijo"
HYDERABAD: Shahbaz Sharif, no great idol and icon of democracy himself, to be sure, dared to come back to his motherland at last and was promptly thrown out in a real-life, ruthless commando, James Bond operation.It exposed as never before, the Himalayan hypocrisy and the deep sense of utter political isolation and insecurity of the current set of Pakistan's self-appointed saviors, owners, mentors and masters and their desperate need and vulgar determination to cling to power, at all costs to the Quaid's country and its position in the eyes of the people of the world.This and all related goings-on, like the rat race between the new lotas and the permanent political keeps of the establishment for the General's favor, the plight of the imperialist master and patron-saint of all the Third World mercenary rulers, in Afghanistan and Iraq, the stunning results of the Indian elections, the utterly uncontrollable lawlessness, the all pervading corruption from top to bottom, the disillusionment and apathy of the people at large vis-a-vis the lack of will and ability of the rulers to bring about a change for the better, clearly indicate that the elections will have to be held soon in Pakistan to cobble a government which is a little less shaky and less dependent upon renegades of other parties than in the current democratic façade.General Musharraf and his military government, since assuming reins of power, have had a serious problem of legitimacy and acceptance. People of Pakistan have been made to travel this well worn path many times in the chequered history of Pakistan when the military has first captured power in Islamabad through coup d' etat and then got it legitimized through the well tried and tested world famous Law of Necessity. Next, solemn promises are made for the restoration of real democracy. Simultaneously mainstream political parties are outlawed or sidelined. Then drama of the mandatory bogus referendums are staged with great fanfare and a General's party formed that, joined by ragtag groups of non-entities and lotas, is made to sit on the throne while the real authority and power stays concentrated in GHQ.For good measure a fraudulent and highly selective process of accountability and cleansing of body politic is initiated. This time around the same charade has been repeated by the current military saviors of the country. An outrageously bogus referendum was held which was so pathetic that even its beneficiary was forced to admit that it was a mistake.Then we saw the incumbent elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of PML-N banished to Saudi Arabia along with his entire family. Then the leader of PPP, the largest political party in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, was hounded out of the country and her husband Asif Zardari kept in prison.All this was done in the name of good governance and justice while the benign and virtuous General sits at the head of a government, most members of which are accused of crimes of corruption and even terrorism.There are bigger national crimes than even the worst corruption. Pakistan violently broke into two parts. Hundreds and thousands of Pakistani citizens were butchered but despite the Hamood ur Rehman Commission Report, not a single person was held responsible and none of the arrogant and reckless Generals responsible for the holocaust saw the inside of a jail.Recently Pakistan was put to great danger of nuclear war with India and more than a thousand of its army jawans and officers were killed on the mountains of Kargil as a result of a disastrous and totally senseless adventure.Pakistan was further put to shame when its PM had to rush to Washington to request the US President to intervene. If making millions at the cost of poor Pakistani's is a crime, as it certainly should be, putting the whole country in the danger of a nuclear holocaust through a senseless adventure should be considered a thousand times worse crime and its perpetrators treated accordingly. After all the poor people of Pakistan spend 188 Billion Rupees every year of their tax money on the Generals and jawans in order to live in safety and security of their homeland.Previous to that, the military government of Zia ul Haq undertook a mercenary role in the imperialist Afghan adventure that on one hand helped make US imperialism the unchallenged master of the world and a terrible menace for the Muslim world while miring forever the people of Pakistan in the curse of heroin and Kalashnikov, and on the other hand deliberately encouraged religious extremism as a State policy.The disastrous results of this policy are being witnessed in Pakistan today when places of worship are needed to be guarded against suicide bombers and massacres. Pakistan has lost billions of Rupees in missed investment due to religious intolerance and corresponding bloodshed. It has cost the county further billions of Rupees in maintenance of law and order, that continues to be precarious till today.More ominously, the policy of State sponsored religious extremism brought Pakistan on the verge of being declared a terrorist state many times, with the results that today Pakistan is compelled to accept a humiliating role on a single telephone call from Washington. These crimes are much bigger and damaging than even the worst cases of politicians' alleged corruption. The people of Pakistan have a right to know as to why has nobody ever been held responsible and punished properly for playing such havoc with the people of Pakistan.The Awami Tehreek perceives that Musharraf government is about to push Pakistan into an equal or even bigger disaster in the near future. We believe that after sidelining the two major mainstream political parties of Pakistan, Musharraf is planning to hold utterly fake elections and, if the past experience of the present Election Commission is any guide, a landslide victory is going to be engineered in favor of the General's party.After that especially Sindh will be robbed and destroyed left, right and center. Its remaining share of water will be taken away. Dams will be built on Indus illegally and unconstitutionally for the sake of astronomical commissions and for perpetration of power. Since there is no water to fill the reservoirs Sindh's resources will be misappropriated by the center. in the name of Islam and Pakistan.Sindh government will be handed over to dummies and terrorists to a much worse extent than now and everything, from transfer and postings of peons to getting a simple job done will be only through money, much like now, only on a scale unseen and unthinkable. A very great havoc is about to be played with Sindh and Pakistan out of which they will be unable to come out.By whatever means employed General Musharraf has appointed himself the President of whole of Pakistan. He is supposed to be the constitutional head of the country. It should not be his business to take sides with one political party against the other, or with one province against the another, or favoring one project over another.We demand that to save the country from further degeneration and disaster, plans for faking elections should be stopped, leaders of the mainstream political parties, the Sharif brothers and Benazir and even MQM's Altaf Hussain, should be allowed to return, Asif Zardari should be released, Kargil should be discussed and those responsible for it should be punished. The full text of Hamood ur Rehman Commission Report should be published and those responsible for the East Pakistan debacle should be court martialed. Elections should then be held under an Election Commission that has the trust of all parties.
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